Anonymous posting is only appropriate when you are revealing sensitive employment related information about a firm, job, etc. You may anonymously respond on topic to these threads. Unacceptable uses include: harassing another user, joking around, testing the feature, or other things that are more appropriate in the lounge.

Anonymous User wrote:When is a good time to tell your firm you are applying or considering applying? Should you wait for your permanent offer from your firm?

Also, do most firms hold your spot for you for the year, or do they just let you go? I'm talking specifically about district court and not COA. Do most firms let you defer a year?

Thanks,

Worried 2L/rising 3L

It gets discussed a lot over summer (people talk about the clerkships they did, ask if you're applying, etc) and the recruiting people asked at the end of summer. At my firm they said they keep the offer open for a year but there's no promise you can come back if you decide to do 2 years of clerking. Every firm is different, just ask what their policy is, they should LIKE clerks so I doubt they'll have a problem with it. Good luck!

Anonymous User wrote:My firm's website used to say that there is a 50k sign on bonus for clerks. It no longer says this. Safe to assume I'm totally screwed if I accept a clerkship in the fall?

Just ask. Some firms have conditional bonuses for clerkships (e.g. has to be federal/appellate or you have to be going into litigation). Really depends on the firm and the clerkship.

Will asking jeopardize my chances of receiving a permanent offer this summer? I know it's generally assumed that firms want their summers to clerk and/or value the experience, but is it possible they will figure - oh, he's not coming here anyway, so let's not waste the offer? Sorry - I know I'm being paranoid.

Anonymous User wrote:My firm's website used to say that there is a 50k sign on bonus for clerks. It no longer says this. Safe to assume I'm totally screwed if I accept a clerkship in the fall?

Just ask. Some firms have conditional bonuses for clerkships (e.g. has to be federal/appellate or you have to be going into litigation). Really depends on the firm and the clerkship.

Will asking jeopardize my chances of receiving a permanent offer this summer? I know it's generally assumed that firms want their summers to clerk and/or value the experience, but is it possible they will figure - oh, he's not coming here anyway, so let's not waste the offer? Sorry - I know I'm being paranoid.

Wait until you're there for the summer and get a feel for the recruiting people and their openness. Pick the person who goes out to the events with you/stays late/parties with you all and ask them on a friendly basis. My summer we had a lunch with recruiting where we got to turn in questions anonymously throughout the summer and they were answered at the end. I don't think anything crazy was asked and a lot of it was about clerkships (if they aren't doing something similar you could suggest it).

I don't think you should fear asking, but it isn't time sensitive so you could just bring it up in conversation over the summer.

If they liked clerks before, they still like them now, so don't worry.

That's an iffy proposition for many firms ITE.

Meaning clerking can actually hurt your chances of getting a perm offer if the firm knew about it?!?!

Not necessarily. I meant that more in the sense that I know firms that have given summer associates who were going to clerk (and made clear this intention) offers, but later informed them that they weren't welcome back. Others simply revoked the bonus.

Either way, I think Georgiana is right here. When you get a sense of the culture of your firm over the summer, you should decide for yourself whether to raise it. It's also hardly sensitive or consequential to ask random questions about clerking.

If they liked clerks before, they still like them now, so don't worry.

That's an iffy proposition for many firms ITE.

Meaning clerking can actually hurt your chances of getting a perm offer if the firm knew about it?!?!

Not necessarily. I meant that more in the sense that I know firms that have given summer associates who were going to clerk (and made clear this intention) offers, but later informed them that they weren't welcome back. Others simply revoked the bonus.

Either way, I think Georgiana is right here. When you get a sense of the culture of your firm over the summer, you should decide for yourself whether to raise it. It's also hardly sensitive or consequential to ask random questions about clerking.

Ouch. Okay, going off of that....let's say your offer gets revoked afterwards. How hard is it to find firm work again? Having been an SA once and getting an Article 3 clerkship should make the job search a bit easier, no?

I hate that we have to plan oh, I don't know, about the next five years of our lives right now.

Not necessarily. I meant that more in the sense that I know firms that have given summer associates who were going to clerk (and made clear this intention) offers, but later informed them that they weren't welcome back. Others simply revoked the bonus.

Either way, I think Georgiana is right here. When you get a sense of the culture of your firm over the summer, you should decide for yourself whether to raise it. It's also hardly sensitive or consequential to ask random questions about clerking.

What firms? Seriously, this is *really* useful information to have....both for rising 3Ls and rising 2Ls heading into OCIP.

Not necessarily. I meant that more in the sense that I know firms that have given summer associates who were going to clerk (and made clear this intention) offers, but later informed them that they weren't welcome back. Others simply revoked the bonus.

Either way, I think Georgiana is right here. When you get a sense of the culture of your firm over the summer, you should decide for yourself whether to raise it. It's also hardly sensitive or consequential to ask random questions about clerking.

What firms? Seriously, this is *really* useful information to have....both for rising 3Ls and rising 2Ls heading into OCIP.

I'm not going to say. There might have been some article on abovethelaw about it, though. And I'm sure some firms were eventually outed in the comments.

Anonymous User wrote:what about time sensitive questions, like for judges who hire off plan? there are a bunch of COA judges who interview super early. would you recommend emailing your firm in this situation?

No alumni at the firm, otherwise I'd try that angle. Sigh.

If you really need to know *now* I'd call the recruiting people (not the attorneys/partners) and have this conversation: You: Hi, I'm an incoming summer and wanted to know what the policy was for clerkships since I'm considering applyingThem: Oh that's great, [babble babble babble], did you have specific questions You: Well I wanted to know your offer policy for summers who decide to clerk and whether the firm still offers a clerkship bonusThem: Oh, okay, well we [info about offers] and as far as the bonus goes [x, y, z]

If it goes right (aka they're informed about the policy), you won't even need to tell them your name and it can't really impact you. If they aren't they'll have to call you back/email you, but you've only said you're considering applying, not that you are applying/have one already so they can't hold it against you.

I think you're probably overthinking it, firms still encourage clerkships, especially for people working in their litigation groups... and there are still clerkship bonuses being handed out.